Intrapulmonary aquaporin-5 expression as a possible biomarker for discriminating smothering and choking from sudden cardiac death: A pilot study.
Summary of "Intrapulmonary aquaporin-5 expression as a possible biomarker for discriminating smothering and choking from sudden cardiac death: A pilot study."
The diagnosis of mechanical asphyxia as a cause of death, especially smothering and choking lacking evident injury, is one of the most difficult tasks in forensic pathology. The present study investigated the intrapulmonary expressions of aquaporins (AQPs; AQP-1 and AQP-5), as markers of water homeostasis, in forensic autopsy cases (total n=64, within 48h postmortem) of mechanical asphyxiation due to neck compression (strangulation, n=24), including manual/ligature strangulation (n=12) and atypical hanging (n=12), smothering (n=7) and choking (n=8), compared with sudden cardiac death (n=14) and acute brain injury (n=11). Quantification of mRNA using a Taqman real-time PCR assay system demonstrated suppressed expression of AQP-5, but not AQP-1, in smothering and choking, compared with that in strangulation as well as sudden cardiac death and acute brain injury death. Immunostaining of AQP-5 was weakly detected in a linear pattern in the type I alveolar epithelial cells in smothering and choking cases, while cardiac and brain injury death showed marked positivity, and most strangulation cases had AQP-5-positive granular aggregates and fragments in intra-alveolar spaces. These observations indicate a partial difference in pulmonary molecular pathology among these causes of death, suggesting a procedure for possible discrimination of smothering and choking from sudden cardiac death.
Affiliation
Department of Legal Medicine, Osaka City University Medical School, Osaka, Japan; Medico-legal Consultation and Postmortem Investigation Support Center (MLCPI-SC), Osaka, Japan.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Forensic science international
ISSN: 1872-6283
Pages: 154-7
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22421325
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.02.013
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Aquaporin 2
Aquaporin 2 is a water-specific channel protein that is expressed in KIDNEY COLLECTING DUCTS. The translocation of aquaporin 2 to the apical PLASMA MEMBRANE is regulated by VASOPRESSIN, and MUTATIONS in AQP2 have been implicated in a variety of kidney disorders including DIABETES INSIPIDUS.
Aquaporin 4
Aquaporin 4 is the major water-selective channel in the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM of mammals.
Aquaporin 3
Aquaporin 3 is an aquaglyceroporin that is expressed in the KIDNEY COLLECTING DUCTS and is constitutively localized at the basolateral MEMBRANE.
Aquaporin 6
Aquaporin 6 is an aquaglyceroporin that is found primarily in KIDNEY COLLECTING DUCTS. AQP6 protein functions as an anion-selective channel.
Aquaporin 1
Aquaporin 1 forms a water-specific channel that is constitutively expressed at the PLASMA MEMBRANE of ERYTHROCYTES and KIDNEY TUBULES, PROXIMAL. It provides these cells with a high permeability to WATER. In humans polymorphisms of this protein result in the Colton blood group antigen.
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